m a great while to accomplish two rods. When
he came to the opening, he saw one man spring upon another. The former
dropped the gun he carried in his hand, and it was plain that he had
fired the shot.

The two men clutched each other, though one of them tried to say
something to the other. Dory had lots of blood in his veins, and it
began to boil as though it was over a hot fire. All his sympathies were
with the man who had been attacked. The other had crept upon him like a
thief in the night, had fired at him, and then had followed up the
attack with a hand-to-hand onslaught.

"Don't, Pearl!" pleaded the man who had been attacked. "Consider what
you are doing! You will ruin yourself! You are sure to be discovered,
even if you kill me!"

Dory did not wait to hear any more. He had a strong impulse to take a
hand in the affair, though it was none of his business. The stranger who
had wakened him from his slumbers was back to him, and the boy thought
his opportunity at the present instant was too good to be lost.

The supperless wanderer flung himself upon the shoulders of the
assailant, and grappled him around the throat with all his strength. He
was well aware, that, if he failed at the first dash, his chance would
not only be gone, but he would be in danger of being entirely wiped out
by his intended victim.

Dory was not a very heavy boy, but he was remarkably active. He dug his
knees into the back of the man, and in a moment he brought him to the
ground. The stranger then turned his attention to his assailant, and he
made short work of him. He seemed only to shake himself, and Dory went
half way across the road.

The ex-waiter was on his feet again in an instant. He looked at the
assailant, and saw that he had a sort of cloth mask on his face. As the
boy sprang to his feet, the stranger was in the act of picking up his
gun. He snatched it from the ground, and then fled into the woods. The
conflict appeared to be ended.

Dory puffed like a fish out of water. He had been laboring under
tremendous excitement, which is not at all strange; for it would have
stirred the blood of any one to see another attacked with a deadly
weapon.

Dory watched the woods, and rather expected that a bullet would soon be
travelling from that direction towards him and the person who had been
attacked. But his companion in the road did not seem to be at all
alarmed: at least he did not make any haste to seek a safer position.

"It